How Roger Waters Tried to Kill Pink Floyd With a Lawsuit in 1986

After the icy reception of The Final Cut in 1983, Roger Waters declared Pink Floyd a “spent force” and walked. He didn’t just want out—he wanted the name gone. When David Gilmour and Nick Mason started planning a new album without him, Waters slapped them with a lawsuit in 1986 to stop them from using “Pink Floyd” ever again.

Waters argued he was the band’s primary creative force and that the name should be retired, or controlled solely by him. Gilmour and Mason countered that Pink Floyd was a partnership—no one member owned the trademark. The court sided with the band, ruling that Waters had no veto power over the group’s name. He lost the trademark battle but secured the rights to The Wall’s conceptual elements and some album imagery.

The dispute left deep scars—Waters wouldn’t speak to Gilmour for over 20 years. But the ruling also freed the surviving members to release A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987, proving Pink Floyd could exist without its founder.